China: Population sinks for fourth year in a row
China: Population sinks for fourth year in a row
China: Population sinks for fourth year in a row
Financial incentives for future parents have failed to have the desired effect. At the current rate, China's population could drop as low as 800 million by the year 2100, according to the United Natio...
The continued downturn comes despite numerous measures introduced by the Chinese government to encourage child-rearing a decade on from the end of its notorious, long-time one-child policy.
But incentives including better financial support for parents — the government announced cash subsidies of 3,600 yuan ($500) per child to families in July 2025 and tax breaks for kindergartens, daycares and matchmaking services — have failed to have the desired effect.
Nor has a 13% tax increase on condoms and other contraceptives, with the fertility rate estimated to have flatlined at 1 child per woman in her lifetime, far below the 2.1 rate that would maintain the size of China's population.